I
walked 100yds or so and was worried that the sky would revert to something
more normal before I could get a suitable foreground so I took a shot
looking back toward my car. In colour the cloud effect was impressive,
in b&w it has a 'Village of the Damned' look. In colour I was thinking
good material for a shot. Had I seen it in b&w at the time I might
have been thinking get out of here! (I'm very impressionable) |
|
|
50 yards
futher on and rounding the first corner I was still thinking shoot
something! anything! before that sky disappears. The footpath took
me past a raised garden so I was able to frame some pampas grass against
the sky without having to lie in the mud.
|
| |
|
|
|
The
footpath took me into the grounds of Eydon Hall and if anything the
sky seemed to be getting better. It must be a real pain owning an impressive
country pile like Eydon Hall and having oiks like me wandering through
your property. |
|
|
Still
no sign of losing the sky although there now seems to be a 'hub' forming
to connect all the lines of cloud. I had been concentrating the bulk
of my attention on the sky to the right of the footpath. |
| |
|
|
|
Turning
180 degrees I am presented with an early Christmas present. I press
the shutter and stand for a moment drinking it in and reflect upon my
good fortune. I feel so lucky that I half expect to turn around and
see Kim Basinger or Isobel Adjani holding my camera bag. |
|
|
I
was struck by the similarity of the wavy path and the cloud formation
in this shot. I always allow myself one burst of pretention per walk. |
| |
|
|
|
| The
'hub' |
|
|
I
am barely into the walk and have nailed down a few shots already which
is probably as well since the sky is becoming more conventional. The
temperature is dropping too and the water in this hollow is starting
to freeze |
| |
|
|
|
I
wondered how the sky would look reflected in the partially frozen water.
Ok I lied, two bursts of pretention per walk. |
|
|
This
time of year conditions underfoot make tough going and every mile seems
like three. Particilarly when cloying mud increases my boots to the
size of a couple of Billingham camera bags. The sky has one more treat
in store |
| |
|
|
|
I
never saw anything remotely like this effect before. It wasn't as dark
as it looks in this shot but as the sky was the subject I metered directly
off it and let the tree block up into a silhouette. Not sure if that
was a third burst of pretention or not :-) |
|
|
I
wondered about the rarity of these cloud formations and what conditions
might be responsible for them. I am grateful to Will von Dauster for
the explanation he posted to the Leica User Group about the sky in the
shot on the left. His explanation is reproduced below and I thank him
for it. |
